Return of an Old Friend
by Guardian of Hope
Summary: MI: Ghost Protocol/Avengers X-Over: William Brandt takes a wild ride into his past and rescues Iron Man along the way. Gen, one-shot


Disclaimer: I own neither Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol or Avengers. This is simply a story that would not go away.

A/N: This is a side story to the 'Not My Sins' Verse wherein Tony has twin boys, Doctor Robin Goodfellow-Stark and Steven Goodfellow-Stark. In the 'Sins' verse, Steven, called Puck, is Iron Man, and doubles as his brother's bodyguard. This is part of a bunch of headcannon stories I have running called 'The Life and Times of Clint Barton' where in all the movies featuring Jeremy Renner are, in fact, field reports of Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton, Agent of Shield.

* * *

_You have heart._

Will shot up right with a strangled yell, teeth clenched, lips rammed together to muffle the denial. "Easy Will," Someone said, someone who was not Russian.

Will blinked and looked up in surprise, panting as he tried to drag his mind away from the blue ice of his nightmare.

"Are you ok?" Jane asked.

Will nodded, "Yeah, just a nightmare," he said and pushed the sheet off his legs, "Shouldn't have tried that curry last night."

From the look Jane gave him, Will doubted his teammate believed that story. Just like she hadn't bought the burrito story yesterday, and nobody had believed the oysters and corn dogs on their last mission. It never failed, the first two nights of a new mission, especially during set up for the mission, the old dreams would come back.

"Come on," Jane said, "Benji and Ethan are back with new toys, apparently. Stark Tech toys, so Benji's excited about them, I think."

Will grinned at his friend's grimace, Benji could techno babble with the best of them when he was excited. "Let me put a shirt on or something," Will said and slid out of bed.

"Ethan brought food too," Jane said and vanished back through the door.

Ethan and Benji were back, Will thought as he dressed. That meant they could finally get all the details about why they'd been ordered to this tiny little town in Turkey and hidden away. He'd been enjoying a bit of a vacation, bow hunting in Canada, when they'd called him back in. Ethan had said something about fishing.

Stepping into the main room of the two room hideout, Will smiled tightly at Ethan, who was dishing out food, and nodded to Benji, who was actually caressing the case with the Stark Industries logo. "New toys?" Will asked as he accepted a plate from Jane.

"I hope," Benji replied, "Stark never contracts to IMF. Ever since Iron Man, he's been pretty exclusive to SHIELD. Anyone else has to go through the catalog and then the government discount is barely enough to justify shipping the things."

"Finish breakfast," Ethan said, "and let's figure out what we're doing here in the middle of Turkey."

They applied themselves to their meals and soon the dishes were tossed in a bucket of water, "Man, is it me, or does the food get worse on every mission?" Jane muttered.

"Just you," Will replied as he leaned against one of the rough, stone walls. "The mission, boss?"

"Do you have to call me that?" Ethan asked.

"No," Will said easily, and when Ethan stared at him, he shrugged, "I just want to." When Jane and Benji also stared at him for a moment, Will realized that he wasn't acting like William Brandt and he cleared his throat, "About the mission?"

Ethan blinked after a moment, then reached down beside him to pull up a tablet and held it up so they could see the footage. "This was taken three weeks ago by a CCTV camera in Liverpool."

Will watched as a man in a fedora walked out of a building with the SI logo on it. He had a silver briefcase in one hand and was headed for a large, black SUV. He was just reaching it when a utility van pulled up, blocking the fedora wearer from view. When the van pulled away, the man was gone.

"Kidnapping?" Jane asked.

"More than that," Ethan replied. "The man was Steven Goodfellow, bodyguard and trusted assistant of Doctor Robin Goodfellow of Stark Industries. He was carrying a device from Stark Industries in Liverpool to New York City for Doctor Goodfellow and Tony Stark. The device is called Extremis, and is very dangerous."

Will was glad the wall was holding him up as Ethan talked. He fought to keep his face impassive, but he didn't doubt he was currently as white as a sheet. It was like his old life was coming back to haunt him for no particular reason. A curtain of blue began to drop over his eyes and Will could hear someone talking;_ I hit you really hard on the head._

"Will!" Ethan snapped.

Will blinked and looked around, Ethan was holding him pinned to the wall, "What?" Will gasped.

"Are you ok?" Ethan asked, stepping back.

"Yeah," Benji said, "you were whimpering."

Will struggled to make his face impassive and to regulate his breathing, "I'm fine," he said. "What's Extremis?"

"Some sort of nano device," Benji said, "I was reading about it. I'm not sure what it actually does, but the one human they tested it on went crazy and committed suicide."

"The terrorists who have Goodfellow," Ethan said, turning back to the tablet even as he watched Will, "are threatening to inject Goodfellow with Extremis if Stark Industries and SHIELD don't answer their demands."

Will nodded, trying to pretend his team wasn't staring at him like a madman, "So what does that have to do with us?"

"We're the only people the terrorists haven't mentioned in their stay away or we inject list," Ethan replied. "We are supposed to infiltrate their headquarters, retrieve Extremis and Goodfellow, and then get out. Before you ask, Iron Man and the Avengers are mention on their list."

"Wonderful," Will said.

Ethan eyed him for a moment and Will bit his lip. "The terrorists appear to be a remnant of the Ten Rings, which, as we all know, was the group responsible for Tony Stark creating the Iron Man armor. They've taken refuge in a castle ruin on the other side of the western ridge."

"How do we even know they haven't just killed or injected Goodfellow all ready?" Jane asked.

"They've been sending live chat feeds every twelve hours," Ethan told them. "Goodfellow isn't entirely coherent, but he has responded when Stark and others have spoken to him."

"What's the plan to infiltrate?" Will asked, shaking off even more memories. He glanced, briefly, at the box from SI, and then turned back as they brought up the castle schematics.

/…\\\

The box from Stark Industries proved to hold more advanced communications and scanning equipment, as well as a laptop with Benji's name on it, literally. There was a note taped to the casing of the laptop that said, Thanks for doing this, Benji. Keep the laptop as a token of my appreciation. T. Stark

Benji had been rendered speechless; holding the matte black laptop like it was the source of all light and life in his world.

"No weapons," Jane said as they pulled out the last of the items.

"Stark hasn't made weapons in five years," Will pointed out, "after Iron Man showed up, Stark and Iron Man spent a year finding and destroying Stark Industry weapons caches. Given his stand on the matter, I doubt Stark would bend his principles to send us a Jericho missile."

Jane snorted, and reached into the box with a frown, "That's odd," she said.

"What?" Ethan asked.

"The bottom's too shallow," she said.

Ethan and Will inspected the box, "That's almost a foot difference," Will commented.

"Must be a hidden compartment," Ethan replied.

They checked the box again, but if there was a hidden compartment, none of them could figure out how to open it. Will, suspicious, was careful not to actually handle the box too much. He had a suspicion about that shallow bottom that he did not want to be true.

In the end, they set the box aside and turned back to incorporating their tools into their plan. They planned to spend the next day or so studying the layout of the ruins and the visible guard rotation before making their strike.

The thing is, they don't get as much time to plan as they'd hoped. Orders came in; the Ten Rings had skipped a live feed. They didn't even respond through their "approved" communications channels. Nobody had any contact with them. They had one day to study the site before going in on the hopes of saving Steven Goodfellow.

/…\\\

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" Jane asked Will as they prepared to leave the cave Benji would coordinate from.

"I'll be fine," Will replied.

"You've been acting kind of strange, man," Benji offered from where he was setting up his equipment.

Will glanced at Benji and pretended to ignore the fact that Benji is using the SI box as a desk. "I just had some weird dreams, ok? Took me a bit to get my head clear, but I'm ready." He checked his gun and holstered it. "Besides, I've got the easy job, remember? Get in, grab the case, and get out. I don't have to worry about the possibly delusional bodyguard."

"Let's do this," Ethan said, looking at each of them for a long moment.

Will meet his eyes silently, then slipped his com into his ear and nodded.

"Remember," Ethan added, "if any of us calls abort, we all move out. We meet back at the safe house at oh three hundred if there's an abort, are we clear?"

"Clear," they all replied.

Will left first; he had the farthest to go from the cave, but the easiest assignment. Ethan had picked Jane to back him in extracting Goodfellow. "All right," Benji said, "Ethan and Jane are gone."

Will grunted, "Right."

The cave was located in a copse that extended down the ridge towards the ruins. Will made his way down and circled around the back of the ruins to where the building was that their sensors had pinged his target.

According to their information, the Extremis was in its travel case, because the case kept it active. They could take it out for about fifteen minutes and then Extremis would become inert. This meant that all Will had to do was grab the case and run like hell. Will expected things to go belly up as soon as he reached the building where the Extremis case was located.

Instead, he found the case in an end room, with a rather large window that looked more like the wall collapsed inwards and nobody bothered to do more than restack the stone beyond shoving it out of the way. The room was dark and empty, although Will could hear people talking in the next room. Barely breathing as he leaned against the building, Will waited for the signal.

"Angel, this is control, the pack is in place," Benji said.

Will tapped his ear, sending a click down the line to indicate he'd heard.

"Retrieve case at will," Benji muttered a few minutes later.

Will tapped his ear twice and slid into the room easily. Listening for movement from the voices next door, he slid across the room to the case. It was a slim, silver case with a broken chain on the handle, and to the scanner in his watch, it was exactly what he wanted.

Carefully, Will picked up the case, waiting for alarms.

Suddenly all hell broke loose. Funny, it sounded a lot like two bodies crashing through a wooden floor several feet away from him. "Angel, pull back," Benji said, a note of hysteria in his tone. "The pack's in trouble."

Will slid back out the window and pelted for the tree line, barely making it before the lights came on behind him. "Control, Angel safe. What happened?"

"Floor busted under the pack," Benji replied. "No word back yet."

Will started to run as guys with guns began to come out of the window. "On my way to you, package in hand."

"Good," Benji said.

Will moved as quickly and as quietly as he could, mindful of the people following him as much as the path ahead of him. He had three close calls, but made it safely back to the cave, "Hi," he said as he slid inside. "Word on the others?"

"Captured," Benji replied, "they're going somewhere."

Will crouched to look over Benji's shoulder at the scene from Ethan's camera. "Lovely," he whispered. The guards reached a thick iron door that stood out from the rock by the simple fact that it was new, "Where are they?" He asked Benji.

"Underground," Benji said, "under the tower, I think."

Will nodded slightly and hissed as the door was pulled open. Ethan and Jane were shoved through the door and it slammed closed behind them. A man was in the corner of the room, and Will bit his lip.

Steven Goodfellow looked like a man who'd been serving time as a punching bag. The short man even looked smaller as he stared at Ethan and Jane. "This isn't going to work," he called, his accent at odds with the surroundings somehow. "I won't tell you how to open the case."

"Shit," Will whispered, "he thinks they're terrorists."

"What?" Benji asked.

"Look at his eyes," Will said, "he's on something." Something strong, Will knew. Steven had a high tolerance for most common drugs.

"We're not terrorists," Ethan said, "we were sent to get you out."

"You aren't SHIELD," Steven snapped.

"Give me the mic," Will ordered Benji.

"Why should I?" Benji asked.

Will growled and leaned forward, palming his gun, "Because if you don't, there will be no salvaging this. Ethan and Jane will die, not to mention what'll happen to Steve. Give me the damn mic, do as I ask and I'll get everyone home safe."

"Here," Benji said, staring at him in awe.

"Pack, it's Angel," Will said, "I need you to say exactly this to him, before he decides to fight you."

"What?" Ethan said.

"Say, Puck, it's ok. Hawkeye sent us." Will said calmly. "Trust me and say it now."

"Puck," Ethan said as Steven began to shove off the wall, "it's ok. Hawkeye sent us."

"Hawkeye?" Steven repeated, "Where is he?"

"In the nest," Will said, with Ethan dutifully repeating it.

"Prove it," Steven demanded.

Will closed his eyes for a moment, "Fish fingers and custard," he said. Sensing Ethan's hesitation, he snapped, "Say it, tell him fish fingers and custard."

"Fish fingers and custard," Ethan said finally.

Steven sagged against the wall, "How long until we get out of here?"

"I'm working on that," Will said, "I need some time."

He rested his hand on the box that Benji's laptop was resting on and stared at the Stark logo for a long moment, then he swore.

"What?" Benji asked.

"Help me," Will ordered him and began to clear off the box.

"That's delicate equipment!" Benji hissed, but he also began to move things.

When it was clear, Will flipped the lid open and stared at the false bottom for a moment, and then he cursed and headed for his backpack to take his contacts out.

"Will?" Benji asked.

"Contacts," Will replied as he pulled them off. "Always mess up my retinal scan, every damn time." He moved back to the box and leaned over it, putting his left hand on the false bottom.

"You wear contacts?" Benji said, confused.

"Obviously," Will muttered as the screen suddenly lit up. "Agent Clint Barton," he said clearly, "SHIELD code name, Hawkeye." Following the prompts, Will entered his old codes and passwords. Finally, the false bottom lifted with a hiss of hydraulics. Will pulled the lid up to reveal the contents within.

The first thing he noted was a discrete, matte black briefcase, not unlike the one he'd brought with him. However, when Will picked it up, he knew what it was instantly. That, he set to one side carefully, "Hand me Extremis," he ordered Benji, who jumped to act.

The Extremis case fit perfectly where the other case had been. Then, trying to mask his shaking hands, Will turned to the rest of the contents. A quiver, a leather suit, and a StarkPad. Will lifted up the pad and it turned itself on.

Tony Stark stared back out at him, "Hawkeye, Clint, whoever the hell you're calling yourself now, I'm sorry." Will shook his head slightly. "Fury found out about Steve about six months ago. When Extremis was taken and Steve along with it, Fury called up the IMF and got favors to get your team on the case. You know what the briefcase is, but I took the liberty of sending along a few other things. First of all, the red box is a back up if Steve needs it. You know what it is." Will paused the recording, looked back into the box and found it, the red box that no doubt held an extra arc reactor if Steve needed it. "Benji, ask Steve how his pacemaker is, ok?"

"Pacemaker?" Benji repeated.

"Steve will understand," Will replied confidently before starting the film again.

"I don't know if you've kept up your skills," Tony said, "but I included your bow and quiver on a hunch. It's all the stuff you used back then, although, if you do still use a bow, I'd like to have you test some new arrows for me. That being said, these arrows also feature a self destruct in the shaft. To activate it, you need to wear the sunglasses. The left side has a built in radio, the right side has three buttons. The first is for heat, the second for night and the third, closest to your ear, is for the self destruct. The glasses get their power from the quiver, so they need to be plugged in. The uniform is optional, but if you wear it, know that it's made of a new alloy that Cap and Widow swear by now a days. I can't express how I feel, knowing that you'll bring him home, Clint. Just don't get killed in the interim or Widow will kill you."

Will snorted again and turned back to the rest of the equipment. He hesitated, then pulled it all out, even the arc reactor, then shut the box. "Benji, you guard those two cases for me," he said.

"Steve says his pacemaker was fine," Benji told him. "But Jane was taken away."

"That's one worry down and another one added," Will muttered as he gathered up the uniform, "be right back." He moved to the back of the cave and quickly slipped on the uniform. It fit like a glove, but had an insane amount of flexibility, which given that Tasha recommended it, was only to be expected.

"Will," Benji said as Will moved to get his quiver, "Why did Stark call you Hawkeye?"

Will took a deep breath and settled the quiver on his back. "I used to be Hawkeye," he said. "A very long time ago, practically another life time." He picked up the glasses with their cord, "Help me plug in?"

Benji jumped up and plugged the cord in. Will settled the glasses on and considered the case. "What now?" Benji asked.

"Now," Will said and snapped the bow loose, "we get them out."

"We?" Benji asked.

Will pointed, "I can't carry that case, and it has to come with me. We're going to pack everything into the box and you'll follow me."

"But," Benji began.

"Dammit Benji," Will said, "We don't have time for this."

"Fine," Benji said.

Will picked up the mic, "Pack, this is Hawkeye. We're going silent, see you soon. Stand back from the door."

/...\\\

As Will had expected, the castle was filled with activity as guards ran every where and searched the grounds. He picked a place that had good coverage and settled in to study what was happening. Although the lights never went out, and the number of posted guards did not diminish, the number moving around stilled. Finally, Will thumbed the control on his bow and pulled out an arrow equipped with knock out gas. Aiming carefully, he hit his first target. As the gas began to spread, Will released two more gas clouds. The wind caught the gas and sent it drifting over the compound, leaving a number of people coughing and even fainting from the diluted gas.

Assured that the gas was mostly clear, Will headed in, aiming for a door to the underground that looked a lot newer than the rest of the heap. The guards there were unconscious. Will listened for a long moment before he eased the door open. Seeing no one, Will stepped inside and ended up ducking the assault of a guard from behind the door. Without thinking, Will pulled a favored Natasha trick and sent the other guy down for the count with a knock to his head. That done, the pair headed into the building, looking for the clean metal door.

Benji slapped Will's arm and pointed down a side corridor Will had almost missed. The door was at the end of it. Will nodded and slid down to the door, wondering at how easy this was, again. He spotted a covered opening and slid it open to reveal Ethan and Steve inside the room. "Get back," he told them.

"Will?" Ethan began, but Steve was already pulling him back to the far wall. Will retreated to the mouth of the hall with Benji and aimed at the door.

There was a soft thud as the arrow it, and then a spreading hiss as the acid from the arrow ate away the metal. As soon as the door was dissolved, Will shoved Benji forward, "Case," he hissed.

Steve stepped out of the room, his eyes on Will, "Long time," he said.

"I know," Will replied, "brought you a gift."

"It's not even my birthday," Steve said and accepted the case from Benji, "thank you." He added with a smile to Benji. "You sure you trust them?" Steve added, looking back to Will.

"Fish fingers and custard, Steve," Will replied.

"Right," Steve said, "so we find the fair maiden and go home, yeah?"

"Something like that," Will said and pointed at Steve, "You've spent too much time with Thor, old friend."

Steve laughed as he dropped the case on the ground, "I have stories about that. It's not really my fault."

"Sure," Will replied as Steve activated the suit, "That's what they all say."

Steve lifted up the chest plate and sighed as it locked into place. "This is what I've been missing," he said.

Will turned and glanced down the cross corridor, shooting a guy in a security uniform as he did so. "There's you a gun, Ethan," he added. "By the way, Ethan, Benji, allow me to introduce Iron Man. We're old friends."

"I'm detecting Stark Tech," Steve said, "a com device."

"Yeah, Doc hooked us up for this," Will replied, "where are we going?"

"Left," Steve said.

"Can you fly in that?" Benji asked suddenly as they started off.

"This is a Mark VIII," Steve replied, "I can dance the rumba on thin ice if I were so inclined."

"Please don't," Will said, "I'm still traumatized from the last time you tried that."

Steve laughed, "You know what they say, Hawk. If you've got to cross thin ice, then cross it in a dance."

"You stole that from a book," Will retorted as they reached the downed guard. Ethan collected the man's weapons and reached for the arrow. "Unless you want a souvenir, you can leave that, Boss." He shot another guard behind them.

"Arrows are very distinctive," Ethan replied.

"Self destruct," Will replied, "I'll trigger as soon as we're clear."

"How many arrows are you planning to leave?" Ethan asked.

"Enough to take this whole building down," Will replied. He glanced at his boss, "I'll explain everything once we get out of here." Over his shoulder he added, "Still got that lesbian house?"

"Lesbos," Steve replied, "yes, there's a vacation house on the island. Also, the closest place."

"Right," Will said, turning back to Ethan, "Stark's got a house on Lesbos. Probably the best place to get your leg looked at."

"My leg?" Ethan asked.

"You're limping," Will replied, "and you fell through a wooden floor. You probably have splinters that will go sceptic if we don't treat them."

"When did you become a mother hen?" Steve said, "You used to have to be held down, cursed out in Russian, and sedated for medical treatment and that usually after JARVIS squealed on you."

Will glared at his friend, "What way, Shellhead?"

"Turn right," Steve replied meekly.

Will nodded and headed right. They were silent except for more directions from Steve. They found Jane quickly enough, letting Steve blow the door with his repulsor before Will killed the people within, except Jane. "Will?" Jane asked as Ethan freed her.

Will smiled a little, "Will, Hawkeye, whatever floats your boat. Shit."

Jane's leg was clearly broken. Steve coughed, "JARVIS says there's a plane in Istanbul if we need it."

Will turned to Ethan, "Well, boss?"

"Where to?" Ethan asked Steve.

"Russia," Steve replied. "The plane is refueling, but if you can handle a stop in Russia, we'll then fly straight on to Malibu. There's a doctor already on board and willing to look at all of our injuries."

"There just happens to be a plane?" Jane said.

"Not exactly," Steve said after a moment, "JARVIS says they diverted the plane when you had to change your plans."

"Let's do it," Ethan replied.

"I'll carry Jane," Steve said, "I'm stronger, and as soon as I'm out, I can head straight for the airport."

"We need to get the package," Will said, "and the equipment."

"Right," Ethan said, "let's do this."

Extraction was easier than Will had hoped, and he couldn't deny the satisfaction he felt at watching the castle fall apart from the explosions he set off. "You've got a lot of explaining to do," Ethan said from behind him.

"All at once," Will replied, "as soon as we're out of here."

They collected the box and headed out. "That went better than I expected," Benji said as Ethan navigated their "liberated" jeep down the hill towards Istanbul.

"Shit," Will muttered, "Thank you Benji. You've just made things worse."

Right on cue, a pair of SUVs appeared behind them. "Where?" Benji began.

Will shook his head, "Don't say anything. I knew this was going to happen." He turned in his seat and picked an arrow, "Ethan, try not to crash us."

"What's going on?" Ethan asked.

"Few years back," Will replied, watching the two SUVs, "Loki decided to be funny so he got his little witch to put a curse on me and Steve. It activates after we've been in together in a fight and someone comments on it being 'too easy' or 'couldn't get worse'. Things always get worse."

One of the SUVs had a passenger hanging out the window, about to fire. Will rose up and shot first. "She also cursed the whole damn team with 'may you live in interesting times' but I've found mileage varies on that one."

"Oh?" Ethan asked as he swerved as someone else opened fire on them.

"I like interesting times," Will replied. He set his bow down, took out his gun, and began to fire. "Normality is boring."

"Just out of curiosity," Ethan said, "how much of your file is accurate?"

"A lot of my SHIELD missions were twisted for IMF," Will said, "mostly just changed names and places. Nothing there was made of whole cloth, we just left a few things out that might have made the agency differences obvious. Croatia was my second IMF mission after I became William Brandt." He shot out the tires of the more persistent driver and grinned, because a shot like that, made his day.

"So, was Croatia really why you switched to being an analyst?" Ethan asked.

"Straw met camel," Will replied, "but I'll tell you the story later."

"What does straw met camel mean?" Benji called out as they skidded around one particularly nasty curve near the bottom of the hill.

"Ever heard of the phrase 'the straw that broke the camel's back'?" Will asked, switching back to his bow. "Straw met camel is a short way of saying that."

"Right," Benji said.

They reached the village and hit the highway in minutes. "Where are we going?" Will asked over his shoulder.

"You said Istanbul," Ethan replied.

"I lied," Will said, "so did Puck. We need to get to Milas-Bodrum."

"How do you know that?" Benji asked.

"SHIELD always flies from Bodrum if we have a choice," Will said. "I'm sorry Benji." He fired his bow again.

"Why?" Benji asked.

"We aren't going to Lesbos either." Will replied.

They managed to lose their pursuers and Will settled back in his seat, "That was fun," he said.

"Yeah?" Ethan asked.

"Not as much fun as Budapest though," Will mused, "maybe as much fun as New York."

"You know, it's like I don't even know you," Benji said, "you're acting so different."

Will laughed, "I'm acting like motherfucking Clint Barton, Benji. It's not different, it's just being honest for once."

"Where are we going from Bodrum anyways?" Ethan asked.

"Probably Berlin," Will said, "Stark's got a house there."

They made it to the airport in good time, and Will carefully put away his bow before he got out of the car to take his end of the box with their equipment. Steve was standing just outside the door of the private plane. "Clint," he called, "you might want to put that box down for a moment, please."

Will eyed his friend, then handed the box off to Ethan, "What's up?"

"The doctor I mentioned," Steve said as he walked down the steps, "he wasn't traveling alone."

"Who's with him?" Will asked.

Steve glanced over his shoulder and Will looked up at the plane.

"You motherfucking asshole!" Will shouted, pulling his gun. He barely noticed Steve dodging out of his way as Will charged up the steps to the plane. "You're dead."

"No."

"I fucking buried you," Will insisted, leveling his gun.

"Life Model Decoy."

Will was not a man easily brought to tears. "You can't. How?"

"I was going on a deep cover mission before New York, Clint. When Loki happened, Fury decided that reporting me dead would assist in that cover. The mission is over and I can come back from the dead."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," Will said, aware that his voice was breaking and he was minutes away from tears.

"Because Natasha will kill you if you go rogue."

"I hate you, Phil Coulson," Will said, "I hate you."

"I'm not too fond of me either," Coulson replied, "now get on the jet, we have a lot of ground to make up if we're going to get to Berlin on schedule."

Will smirked, "I knew it would be Berlin." Coulson stepped back and let Will onto the plane. "Steve keeps forgetting, but I'm known as Will now. William Brandt, IMF agent. You've met Jane, I presume."

"I have," Coulson agreed, "Bruce is taking care of her leg."

"Bruce is here?" Will said, glancing around the plane.

"Hi Will," Bruce Banner said, appearing behind a row of seats, "I was just getting Jane situated for the trip. She should be fine."

"That's wonderful," Will said as he strode forward to take the doctor's hand, "how have you been?"

"Better," Bruce replied, "a lot better."

"Oh," Will turned to find Ethan and Benji warily entering the plane, "Ethan, Benji, this is Doctor Bruce Banner, and that is Agent Phil Coulson with SHIELD. It's ok. I thought Son of Coul was dead, is all."

"Seriously?" Coulson asked.

"I'm debating whether to kill Fury or just rip off his eye patch," Will replied, "don't start right now."

"Maybe we should have brought Natasha along," Bruce said.

"I think Benji would like to keep his balls, actually," Will said.

"If everyone will take their seats," Coulson said, "we can take off. Next stop, Berlin."

Will picked out a seat and watched as the rest of the passengers followed suit. Soon enough, they were in the air.

"All right," Ethan said as the plane's seatbelt sign turned off, "who are you, William Brandt?"

Will took a deep breath. "I was born Clint Barton," he said, "after my parents died, my brother and I joined a circus where I became an archer. After a while, I left the circus to make my own way in the world, and that's when Coulson found me. He persuaded me to join SHIELD. Later, I would recruit Natasha Romanoff to SHIELD and she became my partner. Coulson was our handler. Just before the Chitauri invaded New York City, I was assigned to work on a clean energy project involving what is known as the cube, an interdimensional gateway device that gives off unlimited power. The cube was a gateway, and someone opened it from the other side."

"Loki," Coulson interject.

"Loki," Will agreed. "This is Loki Laufyson of Asgard, adopted son of Odin, lie smith, magician and more. Loki brought with him a scepter that allowed him to control minds." He hesitated, You have heart.

"Barton was compromised," Coulson said easily, "along with two other agents and the physicist we employed to help us study and harness the cube. Through a series of events, Loki was captured and Barton was assigned to free him. During the course of that mission, while Loki killed a Life Model Decoy of myself and escaped, Agent Romanoff managed to perform a recalibration for Barton."

"She gave me a grade three concussion," Will said easily. "Then she helped Captain America bust me out of medical to stop the Chitauri."

"I've seen the after actions for that battle," Coulson said, "you made a hundred and fifty shots, and never missed.

"Fifty one," Will corrected him, "I used one shaft twice." He shrugged a little, "After the battle, I stayed with the Avengers, we buried Coulson and defended New York. We met some of the weirdest things in those battles. I got turned into a girl, a kid, and a bunny. It was weird, and it wasn't always easy, but I stuck with it. I was there until we ran into Mesmerelda, a chick who could hypnotize anyone she wanted. She wanted me. After that, I realized I couldn't be an Avenger. I couldn't handle the thought of being controlled like that again. I ended up with IMF because Fury got mad at me getting my own back at the Junior Agents who thought it was horrible that I quit the Avengers. Croatia was just a sign from the Allfather that I probably shouldn't be in the field again."

"You are now," Ethan said quietly.

Will shrugged, "Croatia wasn't actually my fault, remember."

"What does this mean for us, anyways?" Benji asked.

Will glanced from Ethan to Coulson, "I'm not going back to the Avengers. I'll freeze the next time we come up against mind control. I like the IMF, it's the best parts of SHIELD and no Nick Fury." He glanced at the floor, "Of course there's not much call for archery either."

Ethan chuckled, "Unless we get word from a higher authority, Will, I have no intention of letting you go without a fight."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked him.

"I'm sure," Will replied. "Now, about you and Captain America. Did Natasha lock you two in a closet yet?"


End file.
